When officials from the state Department of Public Utilities took front and center at Barnstable High School’s auditorium last Thursday night, Nov. 10, to take sworn testimony about NStar’s response to severe recent storms, many important points were raised by those who attended. They offered practical suggestions for improvements NStar can make, and their insights raise big questions about our relationship with every utility company.

Pending legislation at the State House might help address those questions.

Most everyone understands how tough a job it must be to keep our lights on in the face of terrible weather, high winds, and downed trees. There was universal appreciation and thanks for the crews who braved those elements, and did their best.

But there also was deep concern about how NStar is structured to respond to these crises, and how they’re communicating with the public.

Bill Quinn took the drive from Orleans to offer his perspective. Bill is his town’s fire chief, and he’s been protecting public safety for more than three decades. He shared his memories of other times, other storms, and other utility companies:

Back when our utility was Cape and Vineyard Electric, he recalled, there was a strong, personal relationship between town officials and company management. When Cape and Vineyard became ComElectric, growing larger, many of those relationships remained. With the arrival of NStar, a much bigger company, that kind of local partnership is harder to maintain.

Here’s what that means:

Years ago, when a storm was forecast, the utility company would deploy line trucks to many of the Cape’s fire stations. Linemen and firemen, often friends and neighbors, would move into the storm together, locating downed limbs, shutting off dangerous current to allow for cutting and clearing in real time. Repairs often could be made quickly, power restored.

That kind of on-the-ground coordination is sorely lacking now, Chief Quinn said. And so he requested that NStar return to this locally focused practice.

Many assume that NStar, looking to keep costs down, does not have the line trucks and personnel to do this. But Quinn noted that the morning after Irene, he counted 25 utility trucks in parking lots of NStar’s main station on Willow Street and substation in Orleans. Those vehicles alone could have covered every Cape town, he argued.

Other practical suggestions focused on improving communication, so people calling NStar for information and updates on Tuesday, for example, would get more specific information than a generic comment along the lines of, “Power will be returned to all customers by Saturday at 10 pm.”

We know that the Department of Public Utilities will take this testimony seriously, and that NStar will work hard to make improvements going forward, learning from tough experience.

We also know that companies like NStar serve a crucial role. Electricity is not a luxury, or an option. It is essential, as essential as roads. Yet unlike our streets and highways, utilities are owned and managed privately. If we paid tolls to a transportation company every time we drove down the street, in a way that would be comparable to paying our electric bills every month.

The Cape and Islands are beautifully suited to consider whether some form of municipal electric company, beholden directly to consumers rather than focused on return to shareholders, could serve us better -- or at least provide competition for the existing private suppliers. Legislation now on Beacon Hill would help remove some barriers to communities that want to consider this idea. I’m all for that legislation, and hope to help move it forward in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, thanks again to the hardworking crews at NStar – and fingers crossed for a mild winter